Chapter Summaries

Jiang Liu used Saint Realm spiritual power to engrave Entrapment Formations onto eight sections of Celestial Frost Branch at once, crafting several tokens and ornaments. After exhausting himself, he recovered in the forging room, and Gongsun Haoyue and Flowing Cloud Matriarch approached once his aura steadied.

• Jiang Liu cut the Celestial Frost Branches into eight sections and prepared to engrave all of them simultaneously.
• Gongsun Haoyue led Gong Mo and Tian Ling out of the forging room as Jiang Liu’s Saint Realm aura surged across Forging Peak.
• Flowing Cloud Matriarch arrived, learned from Gongsun Haoyue that Jiang Liu was crafting the ornaments, and confirmed his spiritual power had reached the Saint Realm.
• Jiang Liu engraved Entrapment Formations on all eight branches, shaping them into tokens and ornaments bearing likenesses of Murong Yin, Gongsun Haoyue, and Feng Yue.
• Jiang Liu depleted his spiritual power and elemental energy, then recovered by circulating the Saintly Sky Art as the others waited outside.
• After the elemental energy stopped pouring into the forging room, Gongsun Haoyue and Flowing Cloud Matriarch went to check on Jiang Liu.

Jiang Liu displayed her inscribed Celestial Frost Branches, demonstrating that she could forge Saint-grade artifacts, then refined four thousand-year cold-iron tokens. She agreed to teach Gong Mo and Tian Ling formations in Silent Valley the next day, while Flowing Cloud Matriarch sensed that Jiang Liu had more important matters to discuss.

• Jiang Liu handed Gongsun Haoyue five inscribed Celestial Frost Branches to show the gathered Grandmaster elders.
• Flowing Cloud Matriarch examined a branch and discovered its carved patterns appeared to be formations, while the elders recognized Jiang Liu's Saint Realm cultivation and forging skill.
• Jiang Liu heated and refined four thousand-year cold-iron tokens as Gong Mo and Tian Ling helped raise the furnace's temperature.
• After finishing the tokens, Jiang Liu admitted she had mastered formations and invited Gong Mo, Tian Ling, and Flowing Cloud Matriarch to meet her in Silent Valley the next day.
• Jiang Liu put away the tokens and flew with Gongsun Haoyue toward the imperial city, leaving Gong Mo and Tian Ling excited and Flowing Cloud Matriarch concerned.

Jiang Liu explained to Gong Mo and Tian Ling why teaching them formations could put them in danger, revealing that the Heavenly Dao targeted powerful martial artists and had caused the formation inheritance to disappear. He left them trusting his judgment but withheld the inheritance until he could eliminate its hidden dangers.

• Jiang Liu brought Gong Mo, Tian Ling, and Flowing Cloud Matriarch into the Heaven-Veiling Grand Formation, where they joined him and the others for breakfast.
• Jiang Liu warned Gong Mo and Tian Ling that learning formations could endanger their lives and asked them to keep his explanation secret.
• Jiang Liu described Duan Hongyuan's suspicion that the Heavenly Dao targeted Saint Realm martial artists and explained that it had begun targeting the continent's strongest fighters.
• Flowing Cloud Matriarch and Gongsun Haoyue realized the Heaven-Veiling Grand Formation had helped Jiang Liu conceal himself from the Heavenly Dao, while Murong Yin and Feng Yue worried about him.
• Gong Mo and Tian Ling feared the Heavenly Dao's role in the lost formation inheritance, so Jiang Liu said he would share it only after removing its dangers.
• Jiang Liu used his mental power to calm everyone and found that his influence over their emotions was stronger inside the Heaven-Veiling Grand Formation.

Jiang Liu inscribed Gathering Qi Formations into four cold-iron tokens and sealed fragments of his Divine Sense into eight Celestial Frost Branches. The ordeal badly shrank his Divine Sea, though its mental strength began recovering quickly.

• Jiang Liu sketched Gathering Qi Formations of different sizes and settled on a token-sized version that was about twice as strong as usual.
• Jiang Liu inscribed the formation into all four cold-iron tokens without much strain.
• Jiang Liu recovered his strength inside the sun ring and decided to seal a fragment of his Divine Sense into each of the eight Celestial Frost Branches.
• Jiang Liu split off eight fragments of Divine Sense and drove them into the branches, enduring a severe headache.
• Jiang Liu found that his Divine Sea had shrunk by nearly half, though its mental strength recovered rapidly as he circulated the Saintly Sky Art.

Jiang Liu recovered and gave Gongsun Haoyue, Murong Yin, Feng Yue, and Flowing Cloud Matriarch tokens that let them enter the Heaven-Veiling Grand Formation. After several peaceful days of cultivation, he received word that the people from King Chujiang Hall had assembled and were heading to Yun Province to go out to sea.

• Jiang Liu emerged after recovering, reassured Gongsun Haoyue, Murong Yin, and Feng Yue, and tested the Heaven-Veiling Tokens he had made for them.
• Feng Yue, Gongsun Haoyue, and Murong Yin used their tokens to enter the Heaven-Veiling Grand Formation, where Jiang Liu gave them Qi Gathering Tokens and showed them how to store their own auras in their Heaven-Veiling Tokens.
• Jiang Liu gave Flowing Cloud Matriarch a token that let her enter and leave the secret realm space, and she infused it with her primordial energy aura.
• Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue spent the following days cultivating, while Murong Yin and Feng Yue returned to the secret realm at night.
• Jiang Liu received a transmission from Wind Hall in Li Province saying that the people from King Chujiang Hall had assembled and were heading to Yun Province to go out to sea.

Jiang Liu prepared to sail for Pinghai City with Gongsun Haoyue to attack the Fifth Judge Palace, but learned that the three assassins had moved toward Yun Province. He left for Jiqun to meet Xingyue, while Flowing Cloud Matriarch stayed behind to oversee the Star Cloud Saint Sect.

• Jiang Liu learned that Dongling Rui had mobilized three Peak Grandmasters and eighteen Grandmasters, and decided to entrust him with investigating the forces behind the three assassins.
• Jiang Liu agreed to let Gongsun Haoyue accompany him, prepared the Sea Turtle for the voyage, and departed with her and the Fire-Winged Monkey.
• A Wind Hall messenger delivered Xingyue's report that the three assassins had set out together toward Yun Province, and Jiang Liu ordered Xingyue not to alert them.
• Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue left Murong Yin and Feng Yue behind, while Flowing Cloud Matriarch remained at the Star Cloud Saint Sect to maintain order.
• A day later, Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue met Xingyue at Jiqun, where she had used concealment medicine to track the assassins.

Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue traveled to Pinghai City to reunite with the people of King Chujiang Hall while Xingyue tracked a group of assassins heading toward Yun Province. Dongling Rui, Dongling Heng, and Dongling Qing tried to test Jiang Liu, but his formation stopped them and left them terrified.

• Xingyue told Jiang Liu that the assassins had met an unknown person in Qian Province and were heading toward Yun Province, and Jiang Liu ordered her to keep tracking them.
• Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue entered Yun Province, learned the assassins had turned toward Qi County, and continued toward Pinghai City to meet Dongling Rui and the others.
• Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue found Pinghai City flourishing under the supervision of Exotic Weapon Valley and Listening Wind and Gentle Rain Pavilion.
• Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue went into the woods, where Dongling Rui, Dongling Heng, and Dongling Qing launched a test attack and were thrown back by Jiang Liu's Entrapment Formation.
• Dongling Rui, Dongling Heng, and Dongling Qing begged Jiang Liu for mercy, and he warned them not to try it again.

Jiang Liu learned that the assassins were preparing to flee by sea and hurried to the Sea Gazing Strait to intercept them. He and Gongsun Haoyue hid there overnight, and Jiang Liu sensed their ship approaching at last.

• Dongling Rui told Jiang Liu that the ships were nearly ready, and Jiang Liu gave him a sea chart and ordered him to set out once preparations were complete.
• Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue shopped in Pinghai City, then returned to the City Lord's Mansion with a large haul of goods.
• After Xingyue reported that the assassins had started preparing to go out to sea, Jiang Liu decided to intercept them at the Sea Gazing Strait.
• Jiang Liu took Gongsun Haoyue and the Fire-Winged Monkey aboard the Sea Turtle and raced toward the strait through the night.
• Jiang Liu concealed the Sea Turtle among the woods beside the strait and waited until deep into the night, when he sensed a ship approaching.

Jiang Liu intercepted a ship carrying four Grandmasters who were trying to flee the mainland and interrogated them. He learned they belonged to the Wheel King Palace, descended from people who had fled the Halls of Yama and settled on islands overseas.

• Jiang Liu caught up with the ship and subdued its Grandmasters, stopping one from escaping and hauling Dongyang Hu back aboard after he fell into the sea.
• Jiang Liu gathered the four Grandmasters on deck and demanded to know where they came from and where they were going.
• The messenger tried to claim they were ordinary practitioners seeking a way to survive overseas, but Jiang Liu sealed his Yuan Qi and searched his spiritual sea.
• The messenger confessed, and the other Grandmasters quickly followed, revealing that they belonged to the Wheel King Palace.
• The Grandmasters explained that their ancestors had fled the mainland from the Halls of Yama and settled on large islands, but they knew nothing about the calamity that had befallen the Halls.

Jiang Liu captured four members of the Wheel King Palace’s Assassin Alliance and learned that they had been gathering intelligence for a possible mainland invasion and had identified the Fifth Judge Palace. He sent Xingyue to return with the prisoners and handle the traitors, then discussed visiting the Alliance’s lair with Gongsun Haoyue, who promised to accompany him.

• The four prisoners revealed that their sect had considered invading the mainland for cultivation resources but lacked Saint Realm martial artists, and that they had identified the Fifth Judge Palace through its use of the Blood Saint Art.
• Jiang Liu learned that the Wheel King Palace had become the publicly named Assassin Alliance and had placed its members on the Assassination List.
• Xingyue arrived with Wind Hall members, and Jiang Liu ordered her to take the prisoners back, send a message discouraging an attack, and leave the next steps to Flowing Cloud Matriarch.
• Jiang Liu sealed the true qi of Dongyang Hu and the other two prisoners, then flew back to Gongsun Haoyue.
• Jiang Liu told Gongsun Haoyue what he had learned, and they agreed to visit the Assassin Alliance’s lair after dealing with the Fifth Judge Palace.

Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue waited for the people from King Chujiang Hall, then traveled to the Seven Stars Island outpost defense island. Jiang Liu found the island still occupied, and Dongling Rui, Dongling Heng, and Dongling Qing arrived in time to capture fleeing members of Fifth Judge Palace.

• Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue waited on Sea Turtle near the deserted Seven Stars Island outpost until Dongling Rui, Dongling Heng, and Dongling Qing arrived by ship.
• Jiang Liu sent Dongling Rui and the others ahead at full speed while he and Gongsun Haoyue traveled on Sea Turtle toward Seven Stars Island.
• Jiang Liu reached the outpost defense island and learned from a captured martial artist that the island had not been abandoned but lacked manpower.
• Dongling Rui, Dongling Heng, and Dongling Qing arrived and captured several people from Fifth Judge Palace who had tried to flee.

Jiang Liu followed King Chujiang Hall toward Seven Stars Island, restoring his Divine Sea by devouring divine souls from King Wuguan’s statues along the way. At Yao Guang Island, Dongling Heng attacked its defenders, and Jiang Liu spotted Situ Guang among the island’s leaders.

• King Chujiang Hall’s people swept through the small island and left it silent before Jiang Liu resumed his journey behind their ship.
• Jiang Liu and the others passed several islands, where Jiang Liu destroyed King Wuguan’s statues and devoured their divine souls, nearly restoring his Divine Sea.
• Jiang Liu identified the large island ahead as Yao Guang Island, the main island of Seven Stars Island.
• Dongling Heng flew ahead and knocked out the martial artists who approached from Yao Guang Island.
• Situ Guang led a group out to confront the newcomers, then sensed three Peak Grandmasters and urgently searched for a response.

Jiang Liu and the Halls of Yama forces conquered Yao Guang Island, capturing Situ Guang and many other martial artists. Dongling Rui drained Situ Guang’s blood and promised to release him if he revealed how to keep blood pure, while secretly planning to prolong his suffering.

• Dongling Heng and Dongling Rui attacked Situ Guang as their forces surrounded Yao Guang Island, while Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue watched.
• Dongling Rui brought the wounded Situ Guang to Jiang Liu, who ordered that he not be allowed to die too quickly.
• Jiang Liu’s forces spent two days capturing martial artists across Yao Guang Island before departing without any response from the other islands.
• Dongling Rui drained Situ Guang’s blood to cultivate the Blood Saint Art and discovered that it was unusually pure.
• Situ Guang offered to explain how to purify blood in exchange for his release, and Dongling Rui pretended to accept while intending to keep him suffering.

After destroying the temples on Yao Guang Island, Jiang Liu watched King Chujiang Hall fight the forces of the Five Islands amid a strange fog. He discovered the fog came from qi and dove into unusually cold water to investigate its source.

• Jiang Liu destroyed the seven King Wuguan temples on Yao Guang Island, devoured their divine souls, and meditated as his Divine Sea recovered and expanded.
• The fleets of the Five Islands surrounded King Chujiang Hall’s ship, and Dongling Rui, Dongling Heng, Dongling Qing, Fire-Winged Monkey, and the others attacked them.
• Dense fog covered the sea, and several ships tried to escape while Jiang Liu sensed the fog’s source.
• Gongsun Haoyue burned away the qi fog with heavenly fire, while Jiang Liu gathered more fog into a formation and fed it to Sea Turtle.
• Jiang Liu followed the fog to a colder stretch of water, dove beneath the sea, and went looking for its source.

Jiang Liu was ensnared by invisible threads while investigating the hostile waters near Yao Guang Island, and was dragged toward the seabed as his vital energy froze. Gongsun Haoyue and the Fire-Winged Monkey and Sea Turtle rushed after him, while he continued sinking in grave danger.

• Jiang Liu descended into the dark, freezing sea and found his Divine Sense and vital energy increasingly suppressed.
• Jiang Liu created a Gathering Qi Formation, easing the cold and helping his vital energy flow, but more threads appeared in his Divine Sea.
• Jiang Liu tried to flee, but invisible threads immobilized him and dragged him toward the seabed.
• The Fire-Winged Monkey and Sea Turtle noticed Jiang Liu’s disappearance and rushed toward the place where he had sunk.
• Gongsun Haoyue followed them after finding no trace of Jiang Liu, while the Chujiang King Hall fighters continued battling the Fifth Judge Palace.
• Jiang Liu’s vital energy froze completely as the threads dragged him deeper, leaving his enhanced body to endure the cold for now.

Jiang Liu fought the threads emanating from a black hole and rescued Gongsun Haoyue from being dragged into it. The chapter left them facing the opening as Gongsun Haoyue wondered whether it was the Source of the Netherworld.

• Jiang Liu used a spiritual manifestation to cut the threads binding his Divine Sea, then traced Entrapment Formations to escape their grasp.
• Jiang Liu saw that the threads came from a vast black hole and wondered whether it was the entrance to Abyssal Hell.
• Jiang Liu sensed the threads pulling someone toward the black hole and discovered that Gongsun Haoyue was trapped in them.
• Jiang Liu blocked the threads around Gongsun Haoyue and used the Star Cloud Saint Art to restore her vitality and wake her.
• Gongsun Haoyue joined Jiang Liu, saw the black hole, and asked whether it was the Source of the Netherworld.

Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue tried to contain the Source of the Netherworld, which Jiang Liu suspected was an entrance to Abyssal Hell. Jiang Liu finally trapped it with a huge formation, buying them time to escape while the qi around them was drained away.

• Gongsun Haoyue told Jiang Liu she had read about the Source of the Netherworld in Record of Strange Tales and Miscellanea, leading them to suspect it connected to Abyssal Hell.
• Jiang Liu tried to block the Source with an Entrapment Formation, but it was swallowed and its Divine Sense was devoured.
• Gongsun Haoyue used the Skyfire Staff to ignite the qi near the Source, but her flames went out before reaching it.
• Jiang Liu enlarged an Entrapment Formation to cover the Source, then layered a Stabilizing Formation and a Gathering Qi Formation over it.
• The formations slowed the Source and freed Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue from their immediate predicament, while the Gathering Qi Formation drained the surrounding qi.

Jiang Liu reinforced the seal around the Source of the Netherworld and escaped to the surface with Gongsun Haoyue. King Chujiang Hall defeated the Five Islands of Seven Stars Island, leaving Jiang Liu to rest as the battle ended at dawn.

• Gongsun Haoyue helped Jiang Liu recover his Primal Qi, and he reinforced the Source of the Netherworld's seal with additional Gathering Qi Formations.
• Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue passed through a hidden Primal Qi Barrier and reunited with the Fire-Winged Monkey and Sea Turtle.
• The Fire-Winged Monkey rushed into the battle to vent its frustration while Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue returned to Sea Turtle's back.
• Jiang Liu rested as King Chujiang Hall's forces finished clearing the battlefield and Dongling Rui, Dongling Heng, and Dongling Qing tried to capture the remaining Grandmasters.
• The battle ended at dawn with the Five Islands of Seven Stars Island crushed, while those who had not escaped were left behind.

Jiang Liu and King Chujiang Hall swept through the islands after defeating the Five Islands, while Jiang Liu devoured the divine souls within their temples. After clearing Tian Xuan Island, his Divine Sense reached 40.01 kilometers, saving him years of cultivation.

• Dongling Rui reported the battle results, and King Chujiang Hall sailed to Kai Yang Island, where the remaining Yuwen Family members had fled.
• Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue visited the temples on Yao Guang Island, and Jiang Liu devoured the divine souls within their statues.
• Jiang Liu and Gongsun Haoyue rested and cultivated for two days before Jiang Liu ordered the group to continue toward Yu Heng Island.
• Over the following days, King Chujiang Hall celebrated its gains as it swept through the islands.
• After devouring the final statue's divine soul on Tian Xuan Island, Jiang Liu saw that his Divine Sense had grown to 40.01 kilometers.

After Jiang Liu revealed his overwhelming power on Tian Xuan Island, he led King Chujiang Hall to Dubhe Island and found it abandoned and stripped bare. Suspecting the Haotian Sect might have allied with Wheel King Palace’s Assassin Alliance, Jiang Liu decided to head east to East Wo Country to recruit guides and investigate.

• Jiang Liu’s aura crushed the temple on Tian Xuan Island, frightening King Chujiang Hall’s people and earning their wary respect.
• Jiang Liu ordered King Chujiang Hall to leave Tian Xuan Island and travel to Dubhe Island.
• Jiang Liu found Dubhe Island deserted, with bloodstains showing that the Bai family had killed those who refused to flee and removed the island’s people and valuables.
• Jiang Liu weighed pursuing Wheel King Palace’s Assassin Alliance or the fleeing Fifth Judge Palace and wondered whether the Assassin Alliance had joined forces with the Haotian Sect.
• Jiang Liu chose to rest on Dubhe Island before sailing east to East Wo Country for guides and to settle accounts.